The mitts popped behind his head far further than they did with Eve. Which was expected Cora was bigger and far more muscular than the little girl. Maybe she did need to do some rock climbing then again, even when she was an adult he didn’t remember her punching nearly as hard as Cora did. Sam gave a small laugh when Eve complained why Cora was better.

Sam’s one eye shifted from Eve to Cora and then shrugged one mitt going back further slightly afraid the next one was going to go to his face if he wasn’t careful with what he said next. He was older than her and they did have a tendency to joke around a lot so Sam after careful deliberation. ”Yes.” he over exaggerated a wink at her then followed it up with a ”But I’m older, so it’s okay.” he said with a slight laugh as he swung telegraphing his attacks less than he did with Eve.

”She also happens to be more fit for this, V.” he said trying to form words of encouragement, ”Her work gives her the opportunity to work on most of the muscle groups for punching. You might have better form than her though.” he said trying to give Eve some encouragement and tease Cora at the same time. It was expected though with how Eve’s mutation worked.

Cora listened carefully to Sam's response. She didn't push the mitt into his face like she may have had he actually insulted her, but she did playfully swing toward the side with more force to try and unbalance him. She could see Evelyn's crossed arms in the corner of her eye and knew even without Echoes that the child did not like losing at anything.

"Every power can have it's advantages, you just have to know..." Cora pushed energy into her powers, and suddenly all the threads around Sam became visible. Using it like a smoke screen, she ducked behind him and tried to jab that way. "How to use things to your advantage." Cora finished.

Evelyn, for her part, was studying Cora, even while complaining. The adult had a way of moving that was different from Sam. There wasn't the perfect form, heck, a lot of what Cora did may even seem illogical or 'wrong', but Cora used moments of unbalance or mistakes to her advantage. There was more to learn there. Adapting, maybe. Evelyn had only really accepted Sam as a teacher, but she knew Cora seemed to just go with him now.

Maybe, she could accept another teacher.

"When I was older, was it the same?" Evelyn seemed to hone in on something in Sam's expression. Had older her been good with form and not stength? Maybe she needed to fix that this time around.

The threads normally didn’t distract him at this point he was used to it, or at least used to it so he didn’t try avoid them when they appeared. It was the thread that shared that got his attention. He could have covered his body with ice or created an ice slick under her feet but he didn’t. She was using her powers to her advantage like she said and if she did this to anyone else, well they would have gotten clocked.

The jab connected and he gave a little wince, there was some power behind it but also control. Made it easier to remind himself that this was just practice. The icemancer grinned and might have thrown a kick towards her. He didn’t mention that he was going to kick; he too was now looking to throw her off.

”That’s a good question.” he said with a little laugh. ”Everything I taught you when you were older you could mirror. Just like now. You had a little more experience sure. You also were with Gawain/Maya a lot so you probably got even more practice that I wasn’t aware of.” he didn’t know if that was a sore subject or not. Sam swatted a mitted hand at Cora, this one meant to knock her off balance.

”You were never the strongest or fastest but I was always happy we had you watching our backs. You and the echoes.” he threw a jab at Cora’s gut one she could easily dodge and counter. ”There is always someone stronger. Always. If you have good form though you might not need all the strength in the world. Just need to find where to hit.”

Cora backed away from the kick, which wasn't exactly graceful but it kept her from getting hit. The mitt through her off balance but she countered quickly, and only the conversation with Evelyn started to distract her more. It was odd hearing about Evelyn's past life, especially when her brain started piecing things together. Gawain/Maya...baby shower, ohhhhh.....

She barely countered the jab to the stomach and grinned at Sam to show she was paying closer attention now. Evelyn was listening to Sam so she didn't seem to take in the fact Cora was eavesdropping. Or, she didn't care.

After a bit more practice, Cora called it and put her hands behind her head to get her breathing even. She had healed, true, but her body was still recuperating from all the chaos earlier.

Evelyn had tried one more time to spar, which was as accurate as ever, and maybe a little improved on strength. But real progress would be slow, something Evelyn was not good at waiting for.

"We'll keep practicing. I'm sure one of these days you'll have a leg up on me anyway," Cora tried encouraging. Evelyn resisted making a face, but that a step in the right direction for her.

"Maybe next time Sam will let us use weapons..." Evelyn muttered, although she already doubted Sam would let her swing Sai at anyone but him.